The Green Hearts — Bitou Plettenberg Bay
Child protection advocacy; court support; Protective Behaviours education; community awareness; legal system engagement; not a direct crisis or counselling service A volunteer-driven non-profit organisation that has been standing beside victims of abuse and their families in Plettenberg Bay's Bitou community since 2015 — offering comfort, guidance, and empowerment. Founded by community members who were galvanised into action by a high-profile local child pornography case (the *Cloud 9 case*), in which a Plettenberg Bay resident was discovered distributing child sexual abuse material on the dark net and subsequently prosecuted with the assistance of Belgian police and South Africa's FCS (Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences) Unit, The Green Hearts volunteers attended every court appearance through sentencing in 2017 (15 years' imprisonment, later reduced to 10 on appeal). In the years that followed they extended their work to numerous related cases across the Bitou/George/Knysna court circuit, including the case of dentist Ian Venter, a serial sexual predator. Their volunteers undertook training in the Sexual Offences Act (presented by Senior Advocate Gerda Marx of the NPA) and qualified as **Protective Behaviours Practitioners** — delivering the Protective Behaviours programme in local schools to help children recognise, resist, and report unsafe situations. In a landmark contribution to national survivor justice, The Green Hearts were invited by the Chief Justice of South Africa to present their experiences and challenges to Parliament — a presentation that contributed to the June 2018 decision to **remove the statute of limitations on sexual offences**, meaning survivors can now report at any point in their lives. Green Hearts focuses on: empowerment, education, awareness, and collaboration. It is primarily an advocacy, court support, and community education organisation. For direct GBV crisis support in Plettenberg Bay: GBV Command Centre 0800 428 428 (toll-free, 24/7) / Childline 116 / SAPS Plettenberg Bay 044 501 8000.
Contact & Location
- Plettenberg Bay, 6600, Western Cape
Opening Hours
Opening hours not available. Contact the organisation directly.
About
Court Support
Volunteers attended every court appearance in the Cloud 9 case — through the George Regional Court, through delays, through every procedural hearing — until the accused was sentenced in 2017 to 15 years' imprisonment (later reduced to 10 years on appeal). Over the following years, the organisation was involved in numerous related and unrelated cases across the Bitou, George, Knysna, and Thembalethu courts, including the deeply disturbing case of dentist Ian Venter, who sexually abused his son's friends while serving house arrest.
Travel and personal costs eventually made this level of involvement in distant courts unsustainable for volunteers, but the model they established — of community members attending court as witnesses to justice — remains a template for other communities.
Protective Behaviours Education
Green Hearts volunteers completed Protective Behaviours Practitioner training (each volunteer paid their own fees), as well as specialised training on the Sexual Offences Act presented by Senior Advocate Gerda Marx of the National Prosecuting Authority. This training equipped them to present the Protective Behaviours programme in local schools — empowering children to recognise unsafe situations, articulate their discomfort, and know who to tell.
Protective Behaviours is a recognised, evidence-based prevention approach used internationally that helps children understand: that they have the right to feel safe; that nothing is too awful or small to talk about with a trusted adult; and that the network of trusted adults around them is their safety net.
Parliamentary Presentation and the Removal of the Statute of Limitations
Perhaps The Green Hearts' most significant contribution to survivor justice came when the Chief Justice of South Africa personally reached out to invite them to present their challenges and experiences to Parliament. Their presentation — describing the obstacles survivors faced, the ways in which the legal system was structurally indifferent to victims, and the specific injustice of a statute of limitations on sexual offences — contributed to the landmark June 2018 decision to remove the statute of limitations on sexual offences in South Africa. This means that survivors of sexual crimes committed at any point in their lives — including childhood — can now report at any time without being told it is too late. The Green Hearts, a small group of volunteers from a coastal town, helped change national law.
Today
The Green Hearts continues in Plettenberg Bay as an advocate for victims and their families, offering comfort, guidance, referrals, and empowerment. With a motto of "empowerment, education, awareness, and collaboration," the organisation is a community touchpoint for anyone navigating the aftermath of abuse — particularly child sexual abuse — in the Bitou municipal area.
The Green Hearts is not a crisis or counselling service. For abuse crisis in Plett: GBV Command Centre 0800 428 428 (toll-free, 24/7) / Childline 116 / SAPS Plettenberg Bay 044 501 8000 / Safeline Western Cape 0800 035 553.
The Green Hearts: greenheartsbitou.co.za / +27 82 392 9561 / info@greenheartsbitou.co.za / NPO 165-906 / Plettenberg Bay, 6600. Founded 2015. Volunteer-driven. Child protection advocacy, court support, Protective Behaviours education, GBV awareness, parliamentary advocacy. Contributed to 2018 removal of statute of limitations on sexual offences.